Italy is planning to move a large number of bears from the Trentino region (north) to other regions after the death last week of a jogger killed by a plantigrade, the Minister of the Environment announced on Tuesday.
According to local authorities, around a hundred brown bears now inhabit the mountainous and wooded areas of the autonomous province of Trentino, whereas the reintroduction plan launched at the end of the 1990s provided for only around half of them.
Anger of the inhabitants
However, if rare encounters between man and animal without serious consequences have occurred since then, the death on April 5 of a 26-year-old jogger killed by a male angered residents and local city officials.
The bear responsible for Andrea Papa's death has been identified thanks to genetic samples taken from the victim's body and will be put down.
Wildlife management services are also considering the killing of other individuals that may pose an immediate danger to populations.
In addition, the Minister of the Environment, Gilberto Puichetto, and the president of the province, Maurizio Fugatti, agreed on Tuesday during a meeting in Rome to study "a plan for the mass movement [
of bears from Trentino to d 'other regions] with the maintenance in the province of Trentino of an acceptable number of individuals
'.
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They consider that the bear population in this territory is too dense and poses an increasing risk to the population, but they did not specify how many bears could be moved or in which regions of Italy they would be distributed.
By then, local law enforcement could be provided with “
bear repellent
,” they said in a statement.
The Minister of the Environment has undertaken to discuss this with his colleague from the Interior.
First tragedy of its kind
There are between 120 and 200 bears in Italy, mainly in Trentino and Abruzzo (center).
The death of Andrea Papi, 26, is the first tragedy of this nature recorded for at least 150 years.
The agricultural confederation Coldiretti called on Tuesday for the adoption of a “
national bear, wolf and wild boar management plan
”.
"
The risk is the disappearance of man in the mountains and inland regions due to the abandonment of thousands of families and so many young people who have returned to the land to restore biodiversity through the revival of historic breeds of cows , goats and sheep
,” she said in a statement.
The environmental NGO Legambiente denounces on the contrary "
a management by fear
" of the difficulties of cohabitation between man and wild species, and "
wacky hypotheses
" to solve them.
“
Move the bears?
Or?
We cannot move a wild animal born in a given territory like that
, ”reacted Antonio Nicoletti, head of protected areas and biodiversity of the association, questioned by AFP.